GAME ONE BOX SCORE
GAME TWO BOX SCORE
(SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa.) Freshman Amanda Hedgepeth (Odenton, MD, Arundel) paced Bowie State University with three hits and four other BSU players had at least two hits, but it was not enough as Slippery Rock University downed the Lady Bulldogs 5-2 and 10-1 in non-conference softball action.
Jessica Kortz was 2-for-3 with a pair of homeruns in the opener, accounting for three RBIs. Kirsten Brant followed her walk-off homerun from Wednesday with a pair of hits, going 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs.
Shauna Walker threw 6.2 innings to pick up her eighth win of the season. Walker improved to 8-1 after allowing two runs on nine hits while striking out five batters. Shaylee Ianno closed the game by inducing a flyout from the lone batter she faced.
The Rock finished the game with five earned runs on eight hits and committed no errors. Bowie State scored two earned runs on nine hits and committed no errors.
The Lady Bulldogs were led at the plate by Hedgepeth and seniors Kelley Alexander (Damascus, Md., Covenant Life, Montgomery College), Elizabeth Slater (Glen Burnie, MD, Lenoir-Rhyne Univ.) and Faline Brown (Inwood, WV, Musselman, Hagerstown C.C.) all with two hits. Alexander and Slater each had one RBI.
Brown took the loss (7-12) on the mound, allowing eight hits and five earned runs while striking out four.
Bowie State opened the game with three singles but was only able to plate one run in the top of the first inning after Walker settled in. The Rock answered with four runs in the bottom of the first to take the lead for good.
Shardea Croes led off the inning with a single and stole second base. She scored when Kortz belted her eighth homerun of the season, a lingering fly over the right-center field fence. After Sheree Horvath walked and Jordan Zeunges singled, a double to left field by Brant scored both runners.
The Rock added one insurance run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Kortz hit her second homerun of the game, this time to left field.
Bowie State scored one run in the top of the seventh but stranded two runners on base to end the game.
In the night cap, seven different Slippery Rock players had one hit and Lindsey Grace, Ianno and Amy Erickson combined to allow just two hits in a 10-1 win that took just five innings.
Jenna Geibel led SRU with a homerun and four RBIs, while Horvath also belted a homerun and finished with three RBIs. Warmus added a solo homer for one RBI and Lauren Surface picked up her first RBI of the season in a pinch-hit appearance.
Grace picked up her fifth win of the season after throwing three innings, allowing no runs on one hit and striking out three batters. Ianno allowed one run on one hit, a homerun by junior Shalai Tabor (Waldorf, MD, Delaware State Univ.), and struck out two batters. Erickson closed the game, allowing no hits in a 1-2-3 fifth inning.
Tabor was joined by Hedgepeth in recording the lone two hits for the Lady Bulldogs.
Freshman Megan Alexander (Damascus, Md., Damascus) picked up the loss (6-6), allowing 10 runs on seven hits and striking out two.
The Rock jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning when Horvath belted a three-run homerun that scored Kortz and Geibel.
Slippery Rock would add a run in the second inning when Zeunges scored on a sacrifice fly by Warmus and would add three more runs in the third inning when Geibel launched a three-run homer to right field, scoring Kortz and Kendra Kutz.
Bowie State's lone run came in the fourth inning when Tabor cleared the right field fence with two outs in the inning. The homer was Tabor's league leading ninth of the season.
Slippery Rock (15-8) responded with three more runs in the bottom of the fourth, two earned and one unearned, to put the game into a five-inning scenario. Erickson closed out the bottom of the fifth with three straight outs to seal the win.
Bowie State (13-18) returns home for Senior Day - Saturday (April 3), hosting Elizabeth City State University in a CIAA doubleheader beginning at noon.
